Ruby Red Slippers
by independantsilverheart
Summary: With her dad spending most of his time with Yvette and her mum and Don preparing to come home for Christmas, things can’t get much crazier for Jude. Throw in a missing producer and a sister ready to crack and you have a recipe for diaster.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**I do not claim to own Instant Star or any of the characters

Jude sat in her car and stared out at the blue/grey iciness that was the ocean, as she remembered the first time she had come here. The first time she had ever let anyone change one

of her songs. The first time she felt herself blush while staring into someone's eyes. The docks held so many memories, so many feelings, so many songs; it had quickly become her

sanctuary, her piece of blue heaven, shared with one other person…Tom Quincy.

Her feelings towards him were still un-decided, he was her first crush, and although she had fallen for him countless times, and countless times her heart had been shattered, this time

she thought it was for real. Was she just a toy to him, something he could play with, or something more, something he cared so deeply about he wanted to protect it form the world.

Jude hoped it was the latter, although she knew hoping only got you so far. But she would always have a soft spot for him in her heart, always. She just hoped he did too.


	2. Chapter 2

The sky faded from a bright baby blue to an inky black skyline quite rapidly, with shots of red and yellow over the horizon as the sun set. It was nearing dusk when Jude returned home, and as she pulled up to her house she was surprised to see that the lights were turned on inside. Sadie had been working late every night for the past few weeks in a effort to make extra cash as she could tell her dad was starting to struggle under the strain of only living off one salary, and feeling like he should be providing for four.

Jude cautiously entered the house she could smell the scent of her dad's famous spaghetti wafting from the kitchen to the entrance hall. A small smile lit up on her face, a smile that hadn't been seen for weeks, at the though of her dad. He was the one person she could count on for anything. She walked into the kitchen ready to give him a hug and thanks but was stopped in her tracks by the sight of a second person with her dad... Yvette. Jude's smile vanished as soon as it had appeared; looking like it had never even been there. Yvette had been everywhere with her dad lately. Somehow 'family picnic' turned into Stuart, Jude, Sadie and Yvette.

Ignoring her dad's friendly 'hello' she slowly backed out of the kitchen with the intent of walking back outside and getting straight back into her car, when she noticed a second car pulling into the driveway. Sadie jumped out and headed straight up to Jude, who was now standing in the doorway of the front door with a horrified look on her face.

"Hey Jude, good to see your home, I got off early today so we could do more…Sister Things an-" Sadie stopped "are you just going somewhere, 'cause if you are we could always take a raincheck" she asked in a slightly hurt voice.

But before Jude could answer Yvette walked past Jude in her usual dismissal and up to Sadie who she embraced like a daughter.

"Good to see you again Sadie, how are you, well? I hear the debating is going strong. I hope I didn't ruin you plans, but we were planning on having a family dinner tonight." Yvette said in her usual kind yet I'm-so-much-better-than-you way.

"Uh well, um… Jude and I were planning on seeing a movie tonight, so we kinda have to go now" Sadie once again covered for Jude in a move that was suddenly becoming one of Sadie's specialties. They ran to Sadie's car faster then they had ever run before, even ignoring their dad's call of "I'll freeze some spaghetti for you to have tomorrow then shall I?"

Stuart walked back inside the house slightly hurt at the sudden disappearance of his daughters, but smiled at how they had, after the many years of fighting become so close.


	3. Chapter 3

As the sun peeked though the curtains of Jude's bedroom she awoke with a feeling that something bad was going to happen, probably Yvette shaped as well. She shook of that feeling, thinking that maybe the thought of her dad reminded her of what a cow Yvette was, and the thought of Yvette basically ruined everything. Jude was sure that no matter how had Yvette would try; she wouldn't be able to ruin this. Jude was going to do something she hadn't done in a while, something that, as strange as it was, it was something she really enjoyed doing; so she shook off that feeling of Yvetteness and continued to get ready for the day.

Just as she had finished her slice of toast she heard a loud car horn tooting. She grabbed her bag and ran out the door to see her dad sitting ion his car grinning broadly.

"Okay, all set, ready to go?" her dad asked, looking happier then she had seen him for ages. Perhaps he hated Yvette as much as Jude did.

"Yeah" Jude said smiling curiously as she hopped in his car. She couldn't understand why he was this happy; I mean they were only going to re-organize his old record collection.

Was there something he wasn't telling her?

It was mid-afternoon by the time they had worked their way up from 'Z' and were just starting to organize the A's. Stuart pulled out an old, battered, dusty record.

"ACDC, High Voltage" He said holding the record up to the light and looking at it proudly. He admired the cover a few moments more, then pulled out the record and played it.

_Ridin' down the highway  
Goin' to a show  
Stop in all the by-ways  
Playin' rock 'n' roll  
Gettin' robbed  
Gettin' stoned  
Gettin' beat up  
Broken boned  
Gettin' had  
Gettin' took  
I tell you folks  
It's harder than it looks _

"Classic Rock and Roll" he said. Jude gave him a smile, and as small as it had been, it was the biggest smile she had been seen wearing in a long while. But her smile changed from the half-laughing-at-her-dads-dorkiness smile to a vague who-is-that-at-the-door. As she looked at the door, trying to see who was standing behind the frosted glass, and hoped it wasn't who she thought it was.

" Yvette, glad to see you could make it" Stuart gushed. Jude looked on disgusted at these two adults stare so sickeningly into each others eyes.

The sense of evil that had overcast her day when she had woken up was back, and she was right, the evil was Yvette shaped, right from her perfectly blow-dried hair to her polished looking toes.

"Dad, I'm going to head off now, since you don't really need me anymore." Jude said loudly, snapping the two 'lovebirds' out of there gaze.

"Oh don't leave on my behalf" Yvette said in a high pitched, childish voice.

"I wasn't planning to" Jude mumbled icily. As Stuart gave her a strange look she added "The A's are practically finished you can do the rest, it's only three records left to sort of something like that." Jude sat on the floor still, playing with the end of the rug moodily. Yvette always came in at the last moment and ruined the entire day, no matter what had been happening.

The two adults whispered for a few moments more, and Jude heard only parts of there conversation, with things like, 'I haven't told her' and 'Not sure how she will take it' Jude realised with a stab of sorrow that they must be talking about her. These days it seemed that the 'we'll tell each other everything' pact her dad and her had made when she was seven didn't apply anymore, especially when Yvette was involved. Jude figured this must be the bad thing she was expecting, and it was defiantly Yvette shaped…Although what it was, she wasn't quite sure.

Then it dawned on Jude … It was only a matter of time before the same thing that happened to her mum and Don was going to happen these two, and she wasn't going to take it lying down. If a marriage happened between them, chances are it was she wasn't going. No matter how many times she was invited or how long she was told by Yvette that it was important, she wouldn't go. Perhaps they would separate if she disapproved...


	4. Chapter 4

Once again Jude went to the docks to clear her head, and once she returned near dusk, but unlike last night the house was empty, or she presumed so as all the lights were off. She would have a pink fit if Yvette decided to have a surprise bonding session. Sorting through the mail she had just collected from the letterbox she saw that it was the usual assortment of bills and junk mail, all hastily stuffed into a tiny mail slot… or was it?

As Jude sorted through the mail she noticed a shiny, coloured card, and was about to throw it in the bin, along with the rest of the junk mail when something caught her eye. In the middle of the images of buildings, places and people having fun was a single word… Europe.

With shaking fingers Jude turned over the postcard to see a short, hastily scribbled message.

_Coming home for Christmas on the 23rd, _ _2pm_

_Mum and _ _Don_

So this must be the horrible thing she had been expecting, and yes she had been waiting for something like this to come, but not so soon. She didn't need this right now. But her mum was always going to come back; she made it clear to Jude in her letter that she wasn't going to abandon neither Sadie nor her. But she had deserted her when she needed her most, and had ultimately already abandoned her.

Jude didn't know how to tell Sadie, or her dad for that matter. She really needed to talk to someone, someone she could trust, someone like… Tommy. Jude felt a twang of sadness as she realised he also had abandoned her.

She could call Mason, but his tour was coming to an end, and Jude knew from experience that the end of the tour was one of the most hectic times, and she didn't want him to have to worry about another one of her problems. She had already dumped too many of them on him, the running to him at the start of his tour was only the beginning of the times she had called him in the middle of the night unable to sleep to talk.

Jude didn't know what to do. She was lost, broken and confused. Then she realised the one thing that always made her feel better, one thing she had been neglecting lately…. Her guitar.

Jude went up to her room, locked the door, picked up her guitar and grabbed a handful of strings, which instantly brought back memories of when she first got her guitar when she was 10 and not knowing how to play, just sitting there strumming all the strings at once. Somehow without knowing she started playing 24 hours. No matter how much she had grown as a person she was suddenly plunged back onto the rollercoaster, and was strapped in with no escape until it was all over. But the only thing that scared her now was the third thing, as they say bad luck comes in three's.

All of those things were slowly forgotten, and Jude felt for the first time in a couple of weeks that she had somewhere she belonged


	5. Chapter 5

A harsh white light stared at Jude until she decided to wake up. Deciding to ignore its glare Jude rolled over and pulled her big fluffy doona over her head in hopes to drown out the light and sleep, when her mobile phone alarm went off. Jude tried to ignore it as well as the sunlight, but it just wouldn't stop.

Grumbling and groaning Jude picked up her phone to check the time.

_8:00_, why would she have set her alarm so early on the weekend? Why would she have set her alarm at all? Jude was: just about to crawl back into her nice warm bed when it hit her. Last night, just before she went to sleep a harried Kwest had called her about a meeting with Darius at 8:30

Jude flew into a complete panic, running around her room, picking up about eight different tops and digging through a large pile of clothes to find her favourite black skinny jeans. Running down the stairs two at a time, slipping on her boots and jacket and was running out of the warm, comforting house into the bitter iciness of outside when someone standing in the kitchen cleared their voice.

" Jude, when were you going to tell me about this?" Sadie spoke in a voice as cold and bitter as it was outside, yet it was mingled with curiosity, hope and worry.

Jude turned around to see the brightly coloured postcard being waved around by Sadie as if it were a flag.

"Look Sadie, I have to be a G Major in less then 2 minutes, so you can come and I'll explain in the car." Sadie, being Sadie followed Jude out of the house, ignoring Jude's mumbling protest. Still clutching the postcard Sadie said quietly in a half whisper, "Good because I have something I need to tell you"

It was rush hour traffic, so Sadie and Jude had a lot of time to talk.

Jude spent the first five minutes retelling all she knew about the postcard, which wasn't much, Just that Don and their mother would be home for Christmas, and the other fifteen talking about how much she disliked Yvette.

"Argh… She's just so annoying, just so… so… I just hate her." Jude said angrily, still staring straight ahead at the road.

"Hate is a bit of a strong word" Sadie whispered in an unusual quiet tone.

"God, you're starting to sound like mum" Jude said, a slight smile on her face "But you know what I mean don't you." She said looking back at Sadie

"Mmhmm" Sadie said absent mindedly. How was Sadie supposed to tell her youngest sister, the one she always looked out for, about Yvette. It wasn't as easy as she first thought. She took a deep breath and prepared herself to tell Jude what could possibly be the worst news ever.

Sadie looked up at Jude, who didn't seem to notice the fierce battle going on inside her head about whether or not to tell her about Yvette.

" Jude there is something we really need to talk about, and something you really need to know." Sadie had decided to tell her, almost regretting it as soon as the words fell out of her mouth/

"Not now Sades, I'm really late, Darius is going to kill me." Jude jumped out of the car and ran into GMajor, with no intention of slowing down until she got into Darius's office.

Deciding that she might as well start filing through the paperwork at G Major earlier then usual, Sadie slowly got out of the car and glumly walked into GMajor

Jude sprinted through the entrance and was surprised to see only a small amount of people up and working. Sure it's unnatural to do anything but sleep this early in the morning, but she couldn't see anyone important, except Kwest; who, for some unknown reason had chosen to lean against the doorway of Darius' office.

Jude rushed past him with a brief hello, and pushed open the heavy wooden doors of Darius' office.

Sadie slowly got out of the car, dreading another day of filing and organizing. Sure it payed the bills, and sure there was Kwest, but what had originally sounded like a good way to make some extra cash while she looked for auditions for theatre roles, it was just so boring and time-consuming.

When Sadie entered GMajor she rushed straight over to Kwest when she saw how eerily silent it was.

"Coffee, oh and this just arrived for you." Kwest said holding out a large takeaway cappuccino and a large manila envelope

Sadie graciously accepted the hot beverage and package, which she was sure, was the complete script for a new major theatre production she had successfully auditioned for. Sadie opened her mouth to ask where everyone was when Kwest interrupted her.

"Wanna see what's going on?" Kwest asked, although he already knew the answer, and lead Sadie into Darius' office to find where the rest of GMajor was hiding.


	6. Chapter 6

Sadie and Kwest stood at the back, almost leaning against one of the doors. Jude sat down on one of the many seats, she felt slightly uncomfortable in the eerie silence that had overtaken the room. Everyone was waiting, for what Jude was unsure. Suddenly a loud bang echoed throughout the room and Darius burst in, followed by an emotionless Liam. Jude always thought that Liam reminded her of Strawberry George, her old dog. He used to follow her everywhere, just like Liam follows Darius. As Jude tried to suppress a giggle at this thought, she noticed that Darius had sat down in his chair, but wasn't saying anything. Jude was confused; Darius never waited, or took meaningful silences, even to build up the suspension of a moment.

Unexpectedly Darius whacked the desk with great force, and sent papers and other things flying everywhere. Each person in the room sat up straighter and had their full attention on Darius. Something wasn't right and everyone could sense it.

Darius stood up, and just as soon as he had entered the room he left, and for once he wasn't followed by Liam, instead Portia chased him out the door. The door was shut, and even though he was shouting he was still hard to hear because of the thickness of the door, but everyone heard snippets of their conversation. Words and phrases like "No…", "I can't believe it…", " Jude…" and "The nerve of…" were thrown around a lot. Jude wondered why they were talking about her, and what she had done wrong, but just as those inside the office had started to try and piece together parts of the conversation the voices became whispers, and nothing else was heard.

Only 4 people knew the entire content of the conversation, no one was anywhere near hearing point of that discussion outside the office, yet inside it was another story. The only way you could have been in that room and heard that conversation would be if you had your ear pressed against the door. Two people in the room to have been able to do that discreetly would have been Kwest and Sadie.

Since everyone had their attention focused on what was happening outside the room, nobody noticed that for once Liam's face was not showing its usual smugness, but rather an annoyed and irritated expression, yet he looked slightly relived at the same time. What was going on, nobody had any clue, but if anyone had seen Liam's face they would have gained more of an insight then the broken conversation they had heard.

Kwest and Sadie looked sightly panic-stricken and confused, who should they tell, should they even tell anyone. All they knew was that the information should not be told to Jude, because if it was, it could have consequences that nobody wanted to deal with.

All of a sudden Darius slammed open the door and motioned for Liam to come and they left, leaving Portia standing in the doorway alone, and she said in a slightly shaky voice,

"The meeting has been postponed until later today at 2:00; we need everyone here, no exceptions." And with that she left, just as abruptly as Darius had, leaving a confused group of people to piece together the situation, but they all tried and failed. They only knew it had something to with Jude, although no one was sure what it was, not even Jude herself.

Jude returned to GMajor later that day to find Sadie, as usual behind her desk, working frantically to complete endless piles of paperwork. Jude almost felt sorry for her. While she had been catching up on lost sleep Sadie had been down here working to pay off the debt that she owed Jude, which was not just the money she had spent on clothes, but also most of the household's bills. Little did Jude know that today Sadie hadn't done much, mostly staring into space, or having quick, rushed chats with Kwest; but nobody noticed as there was nobody to take charge.

They once again crammed into to Darius' spacious yet crowded office and waited for the news. It must be important, shocking or incredible information to have caused such a stir with Darius, Portia _and_ Liam. This time the atmosphere in the room was talkative, alive and curious. Everyone wanted to know what the fuss was about, what it had to do with Jude and why it had affected Darius so badly.

Sadie almost didn't attend the meeting, as she wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, but she ended up being encouraged by Kwest to attend. He didn't exactly want to go by himself, and one of them had to be present to make sure that what was being to Jude was the truth, if anything was being told at all. She wanted an explanation, and wasn't leaving until she got one.

Whispers filled the room, which soon broke out into shouts and a rather large mass of words. Volume filled the office and the strange babble of many conversations overflowed the space. Minutes were counted, seconds tallied. Darius was late, but no one was game enough to point that out. Although he wasn't there, he had ears everywhere; he knew all.

Before long the talk died down and the room was plagued with a strange and eerie silence. As they sat there, they soon heard a rattle on the doorknob. No one dared breathe for the news they were waiting to receive would be heard any second.

The heavy wooden door was slammed open, as if it weighed nothing more then a feather. In stepped Liam, anger blazing in his eyes, and for once he was not following Darius like a faithful spaniel. In fact, Darius was no where in sight. Liam sat down, opened his briefcase and pulled out a large folder. He opened it up, and pulled a large stack of crisp, white paper, which had been hiding under a smaller, yet reasonably large, yellow package.

"Now, since I don't have much time I'm going to keep this simple." Liam spoke in his usual formal matter, no longer looking like he wanted to punch something. He had cleverly, once again, hid his emotion.

"Okay, now as I'm sure you are all aware, there was a rather large hurricane just off the coast of New York last week, leaving many people stranded and homeless."

Jude looked around, mystified by what this would possibly have to do with her, or why it had cause so much of a stir between Portia, Darius and Liam.

"So on Darius' orders G Major is teaming up with Ice Records, Which is the equivalent of GMajor in New York, for a charity concert, all proceeds will go to helping those in need."

Jude was sure she wasn't the only one confused by this statement; she thought it was kind of strange that Darius would be doing charity work, except for the publicity. A small sadness crept over her as she realised that perhaps someone he had loved had been affected by this hurricane, and he wanted to keep safe the survivors. Although the thought of the Darius she knew being close to anyone was a strange thought, and one she never thought of. He was almost always beyond the reach of the rest of G Major, so Jude had never stopped to think that maybe he had a family.

"We need everyone in this room as they will play a vital part of the G Major team. I expect you all to come. We leave on the 3rd and we return of the 24th, just in time for Christmas."

Jude sighed, she would still have to face the wrath of family dinner, since both her mum and dad wanted her to be there for Christmas Dinner.

"Thankyou for your time, that is all. Please take a sheet which has further details about the trip." Just as Jude was about to get up, Liam pointed at her and two other artists, both 17.

"You three stay here." At that Sadie looked around, as did everyone in the room, to make sure that it wasn't them who had to stay behind. Sadie noticed that Jude was one of them and decided to stay in the background, since she was her older sister, and she was supposed to look out for Jude, but then again it could also clear up some of the queries that she had about earlier that morning.

"You three all need a guardian, someone over 18 that can take you to New York, you have tonight to think about it, and I expect a reply early tomorrow morning."

Jude sighed and realised that she would probably have to take one of her parents, but as Jude looked around she saw Sadie standing in the corner of the room, and knew who her guardian for the trip would be.

Jude, for the second time in 10 minutes stood up to leave when Liam pointed to her.

" Jude, please stay here for a second" at this Sadie spun around, and went to sit with her when she was shooed away with by Liam. Sadie reluctantly walked out of the office, and just hoped that the doors where thinner then they were earlier this morning.

" Jude, Jude, Jude, where to begin." Liam's thoughts were moving a mile a minute, yet none of this was shown in his expression. He could tell her absolutely everything; I mean she would find out sooner or later, it was only a matter of time, but the truth always hurts. But if he didn't tell her she could still get wounded, but she may be in more trouble if she knew. Liam looked at the discarded folder on his desk, with the yellow package sticking out slightly. All he knew was that it would end in diaster if she knew or not. Sure reading someone else's mail is bad, but something sent to G Major is practically the property of G Major, and if someone gave you the letter, it's not your fault if it happens to fall out if you dropped it on the ground.

Liam was awoken from his many thoughts with Jude waving her hand in front of his face. For once he had let his guard fall down and crumble on the ground.

"Ah, yes Jude, well you see…" For the first time in his life Liam was lost for words. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worst. Thinking hard for a way to explain it, he realised Jude was looking impatient, confused and annoyed.

"Mason" Liam said quickly. He wasn't going to be the guy to tell her. I mean she was going to find out eventually. Jude just continued to give him the same look.

"Well, Mason is coming with GMajor to the charity concert, and his tour bus comes back after we leave" Liam said, it slowly dawning on him how bad of an idea to say that, and not liking where this conversation was heading.

"Yeah I know, he comes back on the 5th, but if he comes back later then everyone else would it matter that much, would it?" Jude not understanding what this had to do with her was completely puzzled. Liam on the other hand knew that the 5th was cutting it very fine to leave, but he was pretty sure Jude knew exactly what he was trying not to lead to.

"Yes" Liam slowly continued, choosing his words very carefully "So, you may have to go with him." Sure he didn't want Jude to leave later then everyone, but if something went wrong, which probably would, Mason may be the only one who understands her, and a repeat of her launch party was not needed.

Jude, being so excited about the news that Mason was coming almost didn't hear the next part of the conversation

"So Jude, You, Mason, whoever you are taking as your Guardian-" Jude interrupted Liam mid-sentence "Sadie" She stated simply.

"Okay so You, Mason, Sadie and….either Portia or Kwest, will all leave on the 5th, and return home with everyone else. I'll call Darius and double check that, but I'm sure it'll be okay."

Liam started packing up his briefcase, which Jude took as a sign of dismissal, but just as she was walking out she remembered the last part of the conversation _I'll call Darius and double check that, but I'm sure it'll be okay._

Didn't Liam call her back on purpose to discuss this, why would he have to discuss it with Darius before he confirmed it, it sounded like he had thought of it on the spot. Then she remembered the fact that he shooed everyone out. That wasn't so privet what he told her. Jude wasn't stupid, she knew something was up, and it was something to do with her, but before she could voice these opinions to him the door was flung open by an anxious Sadie, who obviously hadn't heard any of the conversation, and she was overwhelmed with questions, mainly from Sadie, whi was soon lost in the large crowd of curious members of the G Major staff, but Jude was just as confused as any if them!


	7. Chapter 7

That night Jude and Sadie spent a quiet night at home discussing the charity concert. Sadie accepted almost immediately when Jude asked her if she wanted to go to New York with her. The only problem was their parents, who probably wouldn't agree to something that close to Christmas. They'd probably expect another hurricane to happen in New York.

The next morning when Jude pulled back the curtains in her room all she could see were thick, cotton wool clouds. She ran downstairs to Sadie, who already looked as if she was ready to go out in the snow. As Jude looked on quizzically she replied quickly "I'm going to GMajor". Jude smiled and sat down at the kitchen table, letting her body revive itself over hot coffee. Sadie on the other, who looked like she was running really late, simply stood there glaring at Jude. Jude could feel the presence of Sadie's eyes on the back of her head; she turned herself around slowly to look tiredly at Sadie, who now tapping her finger on top of the couch.

"Jude, what are you doing?"

"Drinking coffee" Jude replied unsure of where this was going

"Jude, G Major, 8:30, Right Now, Important Meeting"

"Uh, Sadie, That was yesterday, remember, we went there and we had to come back hours later and then-"

"No Jude the one that you Max and Celina have together, to discuss the legal side of things."

"No its okay, I already told Liam and he said that it was fine"

Sadie now looked very impatient and started to explain things as if she was talking to a five year old.

"Jude there is a lot more to it then just telling Liam. There's paperwork" Sadie stated simply, as if that should solve everything.

Jude knew she had lost the battle, so she ran upstairs attempting to find something warm enough for the cold bitterness of outside.

Surprisingly they only arrived 20 minutes late for the meeting, yet received some unpleasant news.

Darius once again barged in, not looking forward to the following conversation. He didn't want to get on Jude's bad side. Sure he did have more power, but he wasn't allowed to show he was scared because once she got fired up there would be no stopping her.

"Jude, Sadie" Darius began "You have to fly out tomorrow before everyone else"

He was expecting a tirade of disagreement and objections, but all he received were two very confused faces.

"Promotional stuff, you know. Max and Celina are going too"

Jude's eyes took on a saddened look as she realised that there would be no more Mason to giver her comfort hugs in her time of need. Jude's shoulders sagged with guilt as she rembered why they were going to New York. To help people far worse off than her. To help people who wouldn't even be able to hold onto a pearl of hope that the person they love may come back.

Darius stood up about leave, but pulled out three sets of numerous amounts of paper stapled together and gave them out.

"Fill these in, bring them tomorrow, No exceptions"

He turned and walked out the door leaving six people dumbfounded and confused, and one smug Liam who followed, but just as he was about to step out the door he said "7:30, Here, Tomorrow, Or Else"

And with that the door was shut leaving six people alone and bemused in a pile of disorderly papers.


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry it took so long with this chapter, UI had no idea what to write, so I wrote this. It doesnt tell you much but If you read deeper into the words (does that make sence) you may come out with a meaning...

The moonlight cast a fine silvery path down an unknown, yet well travelled road. The wind blew slightly, causing the trees to rattle, twisting and turning in the cold night. An unknown stranger stood there, its dark silhouette giving it an ominous appearance.

The stranger stood there, silently waiting. Waiting for something to happen.

Someone else, walked forward from a strange angle, coming from the dense shrubs.

They stood there, silently watching and waiting. Their eyes upon each other, neither moving nor making a sound. Although they could both see the other person neither recognised the fact they were there.

The first person shivered, causing her to move slightly into the silvery moonlight. Whether it was on purpose or not, it seemed she was trying to convey a message. A single stand of their hair could be seen. Although it seemed predominately red it glowed orange and blonde, and became more vibrant the longer it stayed in the moonlight.

The second person stood still, watching. Neither of them noticed when a single star glowed brighter and brighter, yet it seemed what they might have been waiting for, yet as the star grew brighter they slowly noticed it. They both wanted it, but neither could reach it. But as they looked directly at the star it was blown away by the wind. They didn't try and follow it and faded and disappeared completely. All that was left was the memory- an imprint on their soul forever, at the breath taking splendour of the star.

As the sun began to rise, each of them lifted up a hand and placed their palms together, the sun warming all but the two strangers.

As they pulled apart the second one reached inside the pocket of his jacket. A small letter followed, sealed with red wax, and although as hard as the woman tried she couldn't touch it, it was unreachable. Almost as if it was unknown to her how to obtain it.

The man whispered "Take it" but she then ignored him, looking to the floor.

They looked into each others eyes, their hands once again about to meet, but they slowly started to freeze, frozen in time, against what seemed certain.

As the sun had risen, both had well and truly frozen. A key laid in-between them, yet it went unnoticed.

A flash of gold caused two sets of eyes to open, and as they stared into the darkness they wondered what it had meant, and the voice of the man filling there ears, like the roaring of the ocean. A single tear fell from one of those blue eyes, another thing that went un-noticed.


	9. Chapter 9

The bright sunlight bounced across the room, sure to startle anything in its path. Yet one thing was not awoken or blinded by this white beam of light. In fact the knowledge of morning seemed to be completely oblivious to them.

Jude lay curled up into a ball, hugging her knees, hoping with every single fragment of her, that she didn't need to do what she had to. Hoping that maybe that wasn't sunlight outside, but bright stars, even the continuousness of the strange dream she had last night or maybe even the searchlight of a police helicopter come to arrest her for something. She didn't care what, just something, anything, that would make her fate able to put off, skipable, like a small detail she could over look.

She didn't get it, to Sadie this was no big deal, she could just pick up the phone and it was all over, but no, this was much larger then that.

The silence that had enveloped the room for quite some time was rudely interrupted by a loud ringing of the alarm.

Jude's hand shot out for a second, attempting to stop the annoying sound, yet only managing to push almost everything that rested on her small bedside table off; everything except the annoying alarm.

Jude poked her head out of her fluffy doona and surveyed the messy pile of items scattered everywhere in her haste to turn off the alarm.

Her eyes travelled over each of them, and came to a rest on a small piece of ripped up newspaper, the thing that had been the downfall of her happiness

It all started last night when Jude lay sprawled on the ground, her laptop open in front of her, sending Mason yet another long winded e-mail about everything going on in her life, especially updating him on the fact her trip to New York had been moved to the next day, while Sadie was spread out on the couch, reading the newspaper, deeply intrigued by a certain article that she must have re-read about twenty times, while also making a list of everything that needed to be done and taken with them.

Sadie's eyes had diverted from the article to her list, her eyes wide with shock when she turned around and uttered those shocking words that had caused this silent battle of confrontation in Jude's head.

"We need to tell our parents about the trip"

As Jude reflected on the night before it hadn't seemed as hard as it did now. But what happened next annoyed her more then anything else.

"Okay, Jude, we'll draw to see who tells dad"

Sadie turned back to her newspaper, and in an almost like angry state ripped the article she had been reading the entire night in half, then quarters, the eights, until not much remained.

She picked up a scrap of the mess of newspaper, grabbed her pen, and in large bold letters she wrote 'dad', scrunched it into a small ball, and placed it in a small paper bag. Jude then helped to scrunch the other pieces and add them too to the bag.

When all was done the bag had about 30 or so scraps of scrunched up paper, and was ready for someone to pull out one from it.

Jude went first, and pulled out a piece of paper, un-scrunched it, and with a sigh of relief gave the bag to Sadie for her to go.

Sadie too repeated what Jude had done and passed back the bag. This went on until there were two sections of the article left. Sadie dipped in her hand and pulled out one of the pieces.

It was unmarked.

Although she already knew her fate Jude, with almost trembling fingers reached in a puled out the last piece left.

"It's not that bad Jude, you can just call him." Sadie said, in a way that seemed like she was cheering up her younger sister.

Jude just stared at the small scrap of paper and wondered how something so small could cause her this much grief.

To Sadie, telling their dad about the trip seemed like nothing, and they had been meaning to, but it seemed so hard. To Jude the relationship she had with her dad was so much more. It wasn't just the music they had in common, but it was the simple fact that he understood her better than her mother did, that he was always there to comfort her when she was in need. He had always been there for her, and now at Christmas she wasn't going to be there for him. Even though Yvette and Sadie would probably still tag along, she would miss their completion of their own version of twelve days until Christmas. No getting a real Christmas tree, no more visiting every shop in the mall and getting every single catalogue, no putting up of the fairy light, none of that, and she would miss it. Her dad got excited, like usual at Christmas. It was as if he had planned every single day leading up to Christmas Eve, where they would most certainly watch the _Carols by Candlelight_ and go to sleep, excited for the next day.

Jude staggered out of bed, her mind made up. She would tell her dad face to face. She would make it brief. She would try and be as positive as possible and make it clear she would be there for Christmas.

With that in mind she quickly got ready and marched out of the house, not worrying about last minute packing or being on time. She was on a mission, and nothing was going to stand in her way.

As Jude hurried off she didn't notice Sadie standing in the corner of the hallway, nor did she notice the significance of Sadie ripping up _That _particular article. Her piece of paper, more then any of the others gave a clue into the whirlwind of events happening.

As the door had opened the strong wind had brushed Jude's small square of paper to the ground. Sadie picked it up, and beneath the thick lined _dad_ lay few words, with little meaning, all except one: Quincy

"But now we'll never have the family Christmas I always dreamed of!"

Jude just rolled her eyes at Yvette's pitiful screeching. Apart from the fact that it didn't concern her, Jude _was_ going to be home for Christmas.

"And she'll be running around that town, not knowing what's going on."

As Jude sighed and started to walk out of room Yvette brought Stuart into it. When she does that, usually her way will be granted.

" Stuart don't you care about your daughter, about her safety"

"She-"

"No, she won't be okay. You know she won't be home for Christmas."

Jude plopped down onto the couch. This was going to take a while. Yvette never gave up. The only mystery was, why did she care so much?

It wasn't meant to go like this. She was going to go to her dad's house early-ish in the morning to tell him she was leaving, it's not like he could stop her or anything, her job was on the line.

She would tell him, and then she would go, Easy as that.

But when Yvette was involved nothing was easy.

After 10 more minutes of Yvette's whiney, weak excuses Stuart finally got more than just a word in.

He looked over to Jude, who sat on the couch, staring at a small speck of dust that slowly floated around the room.

" Jude, when did you say you'll be back?"

Jude fell out of her bored trance at the mention of her name

"The 24th-"

"Packed your bags?"

Jude nodded

"And you have to be there in 5 minutes you say"

Jude look panicked and her eyes looked up to the clock on the wall. She jumped out of her seat, about to go, when she realised she couldn't possibly run to G-Major that fast, she looked back at her dad.

"Don't Worry, I'll drive you."

She smiled as she looked back at a speechless Yvette

"But Stuart-"

Stuart looked back at Yvette, still with a shocked look on her face

"You can hold down the fort for 20 minutes can't you, don't worry she'll be here in time"

And with that walked out of the house with Jude humming _I'll be home for Christmas_


	10. Chapter 10

**So I haven't deserted the story completely... Half way through writing thenext chapter, so hopefully that's up sometime tommorrow**

Jude hurried out of her dad's car, giving him a quick hug and ran up to Sadie, who along with everyone else there did not look impressed at her lateness.

"If you ask me I think I'm getting better at this whole being on time thing. Today I was only 5 minutes late" As their faces kept that blasé look about them Jude realised that maybe it wasn't her they were frustrated with.

"Max called, apparently is caught up in prior commitments until Friday" Sadie stated in a nonchalant tone.

Jude stared at the group. Max arriving five day later than everyone else wasn't such a big deal.

"Seriously though, what's he going to miss, eight interviews at the maximum? It's not that big of a deal"

Liam shook his head at the young woman. "Jude, Do you really expect that there are free flights of our choosing every hour on the hour. We had to pull some serious strings to be able get a small plane for ten people, and a larger plane for another twenty. Do you actually think that we can clear flights, throw people off flights? Every flight out of this country to anywhere remotely near New York is completely booked out until the 28th of December."

An awkward silence fell over the group which was held for some time, as Jude stood there for a minute, absorbing all the information in. quite obliviously looking for a way to reply to Liam's reply without sounding naïve or immature. It seemed as the entire group of people were expecting the next response to arrive from Jude, but she stood there for a second longer, before changing the subject and turning her attention the massive amounts of luggage behind them. It had been steadily packed into the boot of a black stretch hummer. The loading had almost been completed, the only items left was an eleven piece matching luggage set in a bright shocking pink.

"Sadie, are you serious" Jude looked up and down at the amount of luggage that screamed Sadie, and only Sadie's name..

"Apparently there is really great shopping in New York…"

"And apparently there is also a Christmas celebration. Sadie you can go shopping anywhere, and besides that doesn't explain anything. What, do you need a different outfit for each mall…."

"No! spare space for your Christmas presents. I doubt you left room in your suitcases for Christmas presents, and I know you haven't been shopping lately."

"What are you doing, stalking me"

"I live with you, and I was only trying to help. So next time you need assistance don't ask me, Jude."

As Sadie stalked off in what she surely thought was a dignified huff, to ensure that her luggage was being loaded properly, according to weight and size. For the second time in a few minutes another awkward silence encased the small crowd.

" So, why are we still standing in the freezing cold still, shouldn't we been moving into the car" Jude's feeble attempt at conversation seemed to create a slight stirring of interest with Liam, who for once was less informed about the situation they were in at the current moment.

"The hummer is still being loaded and my mum needed to get changed." Celina spoke in a voice barely above a whisper and was definitely a shy person, which Jude had always found strange, when she was singing it was as if she was a different person all together. A silence encompassed them once again and Jude concentrated on Celina, she had never really noticed her before. She kept to herself, was not really around G Major except when she had to be, and today was the third time Jude had ever heard her speak. The other two occasions when she uttered a word was on Celina's first day at G Major. She told the entire G Major staff a little bit about her, and then an hour later asked Jude if she would by any chance happen to know where the bathrooms were at all. Celina twirled a strand of her long auburn hair around her finger, almost bored, and as Jude looked up at Celina's eyes she saw emerald green gems with a sadness about them, a saddness that seemed similar to the one that Jude had experienced every day since the night that Tommy left. Perhaps the pain behind her mask was the reason for her quietness, perhaps her pain was a great deal larger than Jude's


End file.
